The kiwi traded in a tight range today following an interest rate hike in the United States.
At 5pm the kiwi was at US65.03c, from US65.32c at the same time yesterday, having traded in a tight range of US65.11c to US65.28c during today's local session.
Early this morning New Zealand time the US central bank's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced an interest rate hike of 25 basis points to 1.50 percent.
Ms Trinh said the kiwi had traded up around US65.67c early this morning, prior to the rate announcement.
"In the aftermath (of the announcement) the US dollar was much better bid, so it was much stronger right across the board and that saw the kiwi tumble ...below US65c at one stage," Ms Trinh said.
By the 8.30am start of the local session, the kiwi had rebounded to US65.20c, where it stayed for most of the day.
In the very short term Ms Trinh said the kiwi still has support at US64.80c. "If that continues to hold we will still look for a re-test of that US66c area...but all bets will be off if US64.80c were to break on the downside," Ms Trinh said.
Meanwhile at 5pm today, the Australian dollar was at US71.28c from its US71.56c close yesterday.
The euro fell to $US1.2233 from $US1.2271 at 5pm yesterday, while the greenback was fetching 111.30 yen (110.55).
On the crosses at 5pm, the kiwi was buying A91.31c (A91.28c), 0.5316 euro (0.5323), 35.57 British pence (35.47), 72.37 yen (72.21), and 0.8205 Swiss francs (0.8187).
The trade weighted index (TWI) fell to 66.09 (66.16), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 674 (680).
On the money and debt markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.43 percent (6.44), February 2006 bonds were unchanged at 6.14 percent, July 2009s were unchanged at 6.15 percent and April 2013s were at 6.21 percent (6.16).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi trades in tight range
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